Are you looking to start a conversation in your meeting/group around drones? Interested in a survey of the drone program for class discussion?Concerned about the impact of the drone war on communities around the world? If so, Drones 101 is for you.
The presentation outlines the evolution of the U.S. drone program, provides an explanation of whom it targets and how, and surveys the countries where drones are being used. While a great deal of documentation has been made available through the work of human rights agencies and news reports, this remains a covert program with many questions unanswered. It was only April of 2012 that the Obama Administration admitted for the first time that armed drones were used to target and kill individuals in countries with whom we are not at war.
Drones 101 looks at the power of the Congressional drone caucus and the increasing dependence of the Air Force on unmanned vehicles — 50 percent of the fleet by 2018 — and exposes the enormous profits being made by drone manufactures. Profit-making and current policies of secrecy have ushered in a new era of military violence.
The presentation puts the drone war in the context of the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) and ends with an appeal to confront the military industrial complex by “moving the money” out of the Pentagon and into programs that address human needs.
This is a resource that groups can use to start a conversation or deepen an existing campaign.